Chain Reaction Cycles shipping to Canada

A week or two ago I was looking for information about chainreactioncycles.com shipping to Canada and didn't find anything here. I went ahead and made a purchase anyways and thought I'd report back my experience for the next person.

I ordered a 2012 Bell Sweep helmet. I know bike parts typically don't have customs charges but I wasn't sure where a helmet falls in here. My helmet cost just over $100 at CRC with free shipping. On top of the purchase price Canada Customs charged me the HST and an additional $8.50 in 'Handling Fees', and that's it. I was prepared for worse so I was quite pleased. The helmet arrived about 8 days after the order was made but the Easter weekend was in there so that may have caused a day or two delay over the usual.

And before anybody gives me grief about buying online, I was perfectly prepared to buy locally but couldn't find the size/colour combination I wanted nearby. If I was going to have to wait a week for it to be ordered in at the shop I may as well save myself $60 and the return trip and order it myself.

it's kind of hit or miss as far as the charges go. i had a string where i was charged nothing but recently i've had significant charges on my last 3 or 4 orders. they have excellent customer service, though.

yep chain reaction is the best by far. As mentioned charges are hit or miss with customs. I've got an order coming in this week so we'll see if I get dinged. The $8.50 fee used to be $5 but still reasonable.

Don't feel bad about your LBS as I always offer first crack to mine. If they are within reasonable pricing they get the sale, but they understand that if they can't compete and their hands are tied, then I will go online. Besides they get all my business when it comes to bikes and service and accessories.

A week or two ago I was looking for information about chainreactioncycles.com shipping to Canada and didn't find anything here. I went ahead and made a purchase anyways and thought I'd report back my experience for the next person.

I ordered a 2012 Bell Sweep helmet. I know bike parts typically don't have customs charges but I wasn't sure where a helmet falls in here. My helmet cost just over $100 at CRC with free shipping. On top of the purchase price Canada Customs charged me the HST and an additional $8.50 in 'Handling Fees', and that's it. I was prepared for worse so I was quite pleased. The helmet arrived about 8 days after the order was made but the Easter weekend was in there so that may have caused a day or two delay over the usual.

And before anybody gives me grief about buying online, I was perfectly prepared to buy locally but couldn't find the size/colour combination I wanted nearby. If I was going to have to wait a week for it to be ordered in at the shop I may as well save myself $60 and the return trip and order it myself.

I got charged duty (in addition to HST) one time on something misidentified as something else.... I think they said a blinky was "maritime signalling equipment" or something.

It was a difference of 8 bucks or something, so I wasn't too motivated, but I filled out the appeal form and sent it in just to see what would happen. They ignored it, and I did not follow up.

On a related story, this week UPS tried to charge me $45 brokerage on a $15 HRM band that was being replaced under warranty for free. I told the UPS guy I didn't want it that bad. Man was that guy pissed... they must be getting shot down a lot these days on their fraud scheme.

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On a related story, this week UPS tried to charge me $45 brokerage on a $15 HRM band that was being replaced under warranty for free. I told the UPS guy I didn't want it that bad. Man was that guy pissed... they must be getting shot down a lot these days on their fraud scheme.

UPS is a non-starter for me. If a company only ships UPS then we don't do business. I would imagine that would apply to many people here.

The brokerage fees are retarded. However I haven't wrote off the entire service. As long as you avoid UPS ground and go for the faster worldwide express services, you avoid brokerage fees all together. Usually the cost difference is fairly minimal in a lot of cases. I refuse to order UPS ground. When do you get the right service, their delivery dates and services are far more reliable than Canada Post.

Luck would be if Canada Post decided to leave it or hand it off to you without charging the HST + $8.50 flat handling charge,

Hope Hoops = fully assembled wheel set.

I also think I got lucky because they were in separate boxes but labeled as one shipment so I only got charged tax for one wheel,each wheel had it's own claimed value and I suppose they got the front wheel first which was cheaper.

I guess they couldn't charge me twice on the same shipment?Not really sure about that.

UPS is a non-starter for me. If a company only ships UPS then we don't do business. I would imagine that would apply to many people here.

Originally Posted by nspace

The brokerage fees are retarded. However I haven't wrote off the entire service. As long as you avoid UPS ground and go for the faster worldwide express services, you avoid brokerage fees all together. Usually the cost difference is fairly minimal in a lot of cases. I refuse to order UPS ground. When do you get the right service, their delivery dates and services are far more reliable than Canada Post.

Originally Posted by garage monster

Hate UPS so much.

When I use UPS, typically I get it sent to a place in the US near the border. Recently, I've been using the Ferry. $5/package, and I don't even need to cross the border.

The brokerage fees are retarded. However I haven't wrote off the entire service. As long as you avoid UPS ground and go for the faster worldwide express services, you avoid brokerage fees all together. Usually the cost difference is fairly minimal in a lot of cases. I refuse to order UPS ground. When do you get the right service, their delivery dates and services are far more reliable than Canada Post.

That's a fair point. Jenson offers the UPS Worldwide and that's okay. Most place just offer UPS Ground though, which is of course a recipe for disaster.

Since we're on the topic I'll throw out a factoid of minimal value but it might help someone, who knows. If you know you're getting stuck with UPS ground shipping, make sure you insist on paying all the fake fees up front. Technically, UPS bills a number of cross-border fees at the moment the shipment clears. If you haven't paid upfront, then UPS 'loans' you the money and then at your door charges a disbursement fee for this loan service. If you pay in advance, you save the disbursement fee. Is that a better than useless fact, or what? I wish I could have that moment of my life when I learned of this back again.

This. I used to love Jenson, and maybe its just me, but Jenson has the worst selection of stuff these days. My last order was in 2009. Since then I;ve never actually been able to find everything that I wanted in one order.

They do use UPS Worldwide; a service that UPS for some reason doesn't charge brokerage fees on. If you have the time and a CSBA office close by, you can clear your own customs to avoid the UPS fees if you are ever in a bind with no other option to ship.

Since then I've taken my business to Universal Cycles (who also should reinvestigate over-priced shipping rates), Chain Reaction, and a few other places discovered on Google Product search.

Since this has turned into a shopping thread, I've had good luck with Niagara Cycle Works. Prices are pretty good, very good on some things. 29er tires are a bargain. You can do internet orders for in-store pickup. So no shipping fees and no New York state taxes.
I usually time an order when the wife and daughter have a shopping trip planned.
Needed some stuff this week so ordered last week and picked up yesterday, was looking forward to seeing the store. Disappointed, what a crappy little store, big warehouse.
Was surprised at my mileage, 175 km from Hamilton and back, didn't realize it was that far.

We get ripped off so bad here in Canada - I wanted a XT bottom bracket, LBS was $48 and out of stock, got it at Mountain Co-op for $40, $26 at Niagara Cycle Works.

nspace is right. You can "clear" your own shipments, but you require information on the shipment that UPS is NOT always willing to offer and it takes time to process (after all you're taking money away from them). Being we have a CBSA at the airport here in Hamilton, a friend of mine tried this for some motorcycle parts.

It took him 3 days to get the unique identifier number from them (a wrong one initially, then 24 hours to find it and then on the third day, deliver it) followed by a "we'll have to get back to you" because you also need to know the warehouse the shipment is stored at - where for some strange reason UPS sent the shipment (from Hamilton's BONDED warehouse also at the airport) back to the "port of entry" at Fort Erie claiming they couldn't confirm that's where it was, because it was "in transit." So after a week of chasing his tail, he was able to clear his shipment with the CBSA. Then he had to fax the receipt to UPS' customs division wait another 24 hours for confirmation and for them to get back to him in order to schedule a delivery which took another day or two. The whole process took pretty much two weeks on top of the time it took the shipment to arrive in Canada.

A better option, if you're close to the Border, is getting an American PO box in a border city. Many people I know have one. Apparently it only costs a few bucks a month and they'll notify you when you receive your package and then you just need to travel to the US, collect their shipment, claim it at the Border (or not), pay the fees and taxes and get your stuff WAY faster.

Edit: For full disclosure, I have a shipped package sitting at the CBSA for a week now (my wheelset) waiting to process, meanwhile a prior shipment only 3 weeks ago spent all of 3 hours to 'process through'

Yeah that sucks about the hassle they create to get all that information. I have never done it myself because I do a good job at avoiding using UPS ground, but I've read about doing it.

I usually do the same thing as you suggested. Ship to US border city and go pickup. You should try using Kinek.com. They have an iOS and Android app that allow you to log all your packages and you receive notifications when they arrive. Fees are minimal and only paid upon pickup. Free storage for 30 days. Website, app, clear listing of hours from all the locations, and fees for package size are all very clearly identified. Just makes for an all around no hassle experience.

I just received my order of 2 Racing Ralphs. Literally half the price I would have paid at the LBS.
Only $21.00 duty. If you know what you're looking for, it's rediculous to get ripped off, I mean,shop at the LBS.

Was the $21 all in? Like taxes and brokerage, or does the customs slip specifically list it in the "duty" section?

Because my "prior" shipment (the one that spent 3 hours in customs) was a SRAM cassette and two Kenda Happy Medium tires and I didn't get dinged for duty, just taxes ($35.83) and a "handling fee" of 8 dollars and some odd cents.

If this is turning into a shipping thread. I placed an order on July 3rd with Niagara Cycle Works for something I needed for the 14th.

I ordered tires from Niagara Cycle Works on July 3rd and paid for 1-3 day shipping. The tires were marked as "in stock" on their web page. It is July 13th and I still do not have them after repeated calls this whole week. Niagara gave me one excuse after another, oh it is being shipped from warehouse, oh there are new people working here, usps lost it, oh we shipped it out but not the proper priority.

I would not recommend Niagara Cycle Works, especially if you need the item in a hurry. Not worth saving a dollar or two to not get the item in time and then have to have to hasstle of sending it back.

For the first time, I just got nailed for duty on a shipment from ChainReaction.
It hurt, duty, taxes and fee added up to $43 on a $120 order. I think they charged me the duty on a complete bike as parts are usually duty free. Probably not worth the effort of trying to get the $16 back.

Take a look at the Canada Customs paperwork attached to your package. There are directions on there for contesting duty and/or taxes. Fill in the form and mail it to them. If all is good, you should get a refund cheque in a few weeks.

I did this for some Ralphs I was incorrectly assessed a 6.5% duty on and received a refund cheque 3 weeks later.

The customs tariff is available here if you want to refer to a tariff item # in your refund claim:

Two packages on their way for my SLX drivetrain (wanted to split the payment half cc/half paypal). So we'll see how lucky I am...

Still... What I ordered would have cost me close to $400 at the LBS, and I paid about $210... Excellent prices.

The prices truly are unbeatable. For example, I need a new chain. An XT 10speed chain at my LBS? $90. My recent order of an XTR chain, XT cassette and two sets of organic brake pads? $154. Wow! It's like getting the XT Cassette for free....

Unlike my wheelset (which I noticed on the custom's manifest, only got HST and the handling fee so I got a little bit lucky) which were shipped via parcel force, my new (smaller) package is just coming via royal mail. It'll be interesting to see whether I get dinged this time. fingers crossed.

Just received a package from Chain Reaction with no problems (charged $26 in duty on a $400 order, but sent in the form to contest it). Even with the duty, getting anywhere near this price locally for what I ordered (Ultegra hollowtech cranks + BB, a new chain and ultegra cassette, Conti gatorskins and a few other bits and pieces) would be impossible.

The Hope/Mavic wheels I had them build up for my Motolite 2 years ago are still going strong as well. Very happy customer so far!

Everything arrived quickly, and no duty! Unfortunately, the plastic spacer that goes between the loose cogs and the spider was broken in transit, so we'll see what their customer service dept. has me do. It's going to cost like $25 to ship them back a $25 part, which seems silly to me.